Table of contents for June 2022 in RCM&E

My recent mention of my local gliding club's one-model competition has raised a fair bit of interest. Unfortunately, the affordable foam wing and plastic fuselage glider that was chosen has become rather difficult to source from the online retailer originally recommended to club members, with delivery times of several weeks being experienced when shipped from the other side of the Channel. However, the good news is that this model, the Volantex Phoenix 1600 is soon to be made available to UK model shops via Volantex's UK distributor, CML. Delivery is expected in June, so there will be plenty of calm summer evenings left to enjoy if you want to team up with a few clubmates and try your own ‘mass launch, last one down’ comp with this model, or possibly…

Hopefully, some will recall that rather elegant, yet tiny, WSAT Speedster from a few episodes ago. At a paltry 15” span the Speedster is powered by a rechargeable capacitor. When connected to a 3 x AA battery pack for a few seconds the onboard capacitor stores enough energy to spin the motor and 50mm prop for a good thirty seconds or so of uncontrolled free flight. I remarked at the time of the build that the design of the Speedster was so pretty that it might be a good idea to produce a scaled-up rendition, equipped with simple R/C, for some calm evening flying. I exchanged a few messages with the Speedster’s designer, Vincent Merljin, and was granted permission to draw up a one-off enlargement for my own use only.…

SCALE GLIDING First up: Meir Dan in Israel has done the unthinkable… He’s electrified the fifth scale RCM&E Petrel. Oh, the shock! The horror! But, when you think about it, with its generous wing area and impeccable manners, the Petrel is an ideal candidate for flat field use if you live in an area where there are no bumps on the horizon. Meir, with the help of the Sarik laser kit, has ingeniously installed the motor in front of the F1 bulkhead and fashioned a hollow fairing with which to encompass it, thus avoiding our normal option of fitting it behind F1, reversed, and with a longer shaft. Somehow, he has brought the finished machine within the target weight of the original, which is no mean feat in itself, and…

AEROBATIC SCENE Firstly, apologies to Robert Hirsch from Adverun in my last article for mixing him up with Javier Falco from Falco Aircraft (www.falcoaircraft.com). Javier's new company is based in Modena, Italy, and are creating prototypes for the Bionik design, as well as producing other large IMAC aircraft such as the Giles 202 shown here. UK TEAM SELECTION UK Team news has been a bit lacking in the last year and a half due to virtually all major events being cancelled as a result of the Covid pandemic. However, with the 2022 F3A European Championships scheduled to be held in Spain, the Great Britain Radio Controlled Aerobatic Association (GBRCAA), www.gbrcaa.org, on behalf of the BMFA, held a two-day team trial at the Phoenix MFC on 18th and 19th September 2021.…

WEEKENDERS I admit I was miffed with Covid. This lockdown malarkey stopped me from following up some deeply groovy ideas already in the pipeline for this very column. So as soon as things eased, I got back on the road. I packed all my stealth camping gear into the back of Fat Albert, paid the petrol station a king’s ransom and began my R/C Road Trip. I am spending the 2022 season touring the country for RCM&E. I will be dropping in on meetings, shows and events, and even one or two interesting modelling concerns. I will be bringing you a variety of stories and photos from Alex’s R/C Road Trip. Buckle up and let’s take a ride… INSPIRATION First stop on my R/C Road Trip was to visit a…

INTRODUCTION TO AEROBATICS We recently received an invitation from Ashley Hoyland, PRO of the GB R/C Aerobatic Association, to join them at one of their ‘Introduction to Aerobatics’ days at BMFA Buckminster. We hope to take Ashley up on his kind offer sometime this year, but in the meantime here's the details so that our readers can book their own spaces in the queue for these popular training days: Since September 2017, on the first Wednesday of every month at BMFA Buckminster, GBRCAA competition pilots volunteer to run ‘Introduction to Aerobatics’ days for the benefit of any BMFA member. What you need to bring A model that you are happy to fly, that weighs less than 7.5 kg and that will do a couple of loops and rolls. Maybe a…

“The Thermic wing extension can also be used with the Ridge version too” In the September 2021 issue of RCM&E I reviewed the Sport version of this stylish Almost Ready To Fly glider, just one of four possible variants of Aggressor kits that Century UK distribute to model shops. The previously reviewed ‘Sport’ version has a 1.5 metre wingspan and is powered by a C2415-1150kV motor using the widely popular 3S 2200 mAh size of LiPo. Going up in size to two metres is the Aggressor ‘Thermic’. It is basically the same model but with an extra 500mm long wing centre section. This can be added or removed at the flying field, depending on weather conditions, especially on high lift days. Century UK were kind enough to include a centre…

Gentle reader, as I write this missive to you it is just about early summer. Covid restrictions are slightly relaxed, so I have managed to fit in an Indoor Flying Meeting. This meant a Sunday morning scoot ‘Up The Pennines’ to the beloved Rochdale meeting. Previously, problems with access to the venue, and then the Covid disaster, had conspired to stop this famously friendly meeting. Now it was back with a bang! EARLY START I was up before my breakfast. I had even managed to fill my coffee flask and buy a petrol station sarnie. Feeling a little bit smug, I sped across the border into England. Aye, on to the county of my birth - perfect and exotic Lancashire. As Fat Albert climbed the Pennines, I could almost smell…

MAKE IT SCALE It's been a hectic few weeks preparing for the Scale Indoor Nats at Wolverhampton University, and with the outdoor scale R/C comps starting up again soon. The full calendar is on the BMFA Scale website, but the upcoming few events are listed here: I hope to make a few rounds, so if you can come along and say hi that would be great and, even better, if you enter - it's a lot less daunting than you would think. This month I would like to catch up on where I am with my DB Sport & Scale Auster. I have used some fun techniques and they will hopefully have you adding detail to your next build. A LOOK INSIDE When we last looked at the build, the…

TOP LETTER For his letter this month Stuart Crooks wins a very popular LiPo and low self-discharge receiver pack combo courtesy of Overlander Batteries - www.overlander.co.uk SILVER SOLDERING I have been an ardent fan of silver soldering for about 40 years; maybe it’s the metallurgist in me? Silver soldering undercarriages is the ultimate method for me, and I have never had a silver soldered U/C joint fail. The joints are less bulky, neat, light and easy to make. Perhaps the scary bit is the fact that the metal, usually steel, glows red hot in the process. I think a little more info is required. Firstly, silver solder comes in many forms and compositions. The composition determines the melting point, and this is probably partly aimed at those making jewellery where…

“The single seat was deliberately placed high... to give the best possible visibility” Crop dusters occupy their own niche in civil aviation history. The Piper PA-25 Pawnee is an iconic design that conforms to most modellers’ idea of an agricultural workhorse. Before the advent of specialised crop dusters in the USA most such aircraft were converted military airframes. However, in 1950 Fred Wieck, who was then based at Texas A&M University, designed a specialised airframe dedicated to agricultural requirements. This was called the AG-1, which first flew in 1950. In 1953 Fred was approached by Piper to be a consultant on their new project. This was to be an agricultural airframe designed for aerial dusting and seed distribution. Shortly after, Piper sponsored Texas A&M University to design a dedicated agricultural…

“...it was once described as the very first ‘fun fly’ model” There have been many versions of the Stik. In fact, it’s quite possibly the most copied model ever. The legendary Phil Kraft, who was one of the pioneers and manufacturer of proportional radio for models (Kraft Systems Inc. and the 1967 R/C Pattern World Champion) designed the model in the early 1960s. It was originally called Das Ugly Stik and was intended to be a quick build test bed for radios and engines. At 60-inch wingspan and designed for 0.40 – 0.60 cu. in. two stroke glow motors it was very aerobatic (assuming you could stir the sticks!) and tough as old boots. The first published plan appeared in Grid Links,1966, drawn up by Phil’s pal, George Walker and…

Golden Era biplane Who doesn't love biplanes, especially those with round engines? Happily, I learned about the Waco YKS series in the 1990s, so I built one back then. With over six square feet of wing area to carry her Astro Flight geared 40 and twenty heavy NiCads, that first Waco was a delightfully steady flyer, capable of mild acrobatics and rock-steady passes. Now, I've updated the design for a brushless system and LiPos. At just over 5.1/4 pounds the new Waco is over two pounds lighter than the old one and flies very easily on a Power .32 brushless outrunner and a 4S LiPo pack. She isn't museum scale. I prefer easily recognisable models, but I won't sacrifice flying ability for details invisible from 10 feet away. So, I've…

Scale flying In my Reynolds Number article in the October ’21 issue I included the photo of the Spitfire above with the caption underneath saying, ‘This is why model warbirds tend to fly faster than scale speed.’ This prompted a comment from a fellow RCM&E reader suggesting I was using the ‘wrong’ definition of scale speed. There are indeed two ways of defining scale speed and any scale modelling gathering will eventually turn to the debate, sometimes quite heated, as to which is the right one. In this article we'll look at them both and let you, Dear Reader, decide if there is a right and a wrong version of scale speed, or is there just a compromise to be made...? LINEAR SCALE SPEED The most common definition, and the…